James Gandolfini's 13-year-old son called the reception desk for assistance when his father went into cardiac arrest at a Rome hotel Wednesday night, according to a report on ABCNews.com.

Michael Gandolfini picked up the phone around 10 p.m., bringing hotel staffers to the room. The employees of Hotel Exedra quickly called for an ambulance, which brought the Park Ridge High School and Rutgers graduate to a hospital.

Paramedics said Gandolfini was still alive when the ambulance left the hotel. Doctors tried to save the "The Sopranos" star for 40 minutes following his 10:40 p.m. arrival at Policlinico Umberto I hospital before he was pronounced dead, the ABC report said.

An autopsy will be performed Friday. Italian law says the autopsy can't be completed until at least 24 hours after a death. Gandolfini's body is at the Rome city morgue.

The U.S. Embassy in Rome, which said it had learned about the death from the media, said it would be available to provide a death certificate and help prepare the body for return to the United States. The Embassy said it can often take between four and seven days to arrange shipment outside of Italy.

The Embassy spokesman declined further comment, directing inquiries to the family.

Organizers of the Taormina Film Festival in Sicily were scrambling to put together a tribute to Gandolfini, who had been expected to attend the festival's closing ceremony this weekend and receive an award. Organizers Mario Sesti and Tiziana Rocca said Gandolfini will instead be honored with a tribute "remembering his career and talent."